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Top Cat (TV series)
Top Cat is an animated television series made by the Hanna-Barbera studios that first ran from September 27, 1961 to April 18, 1962 for a run of 30 episodes on the ABC network. History Originally broadcast on Wednesdays (8:30–9pm Eastern), Top Cat was co-sponsored by Kellogg's and Bristol-Myers (Bufferin). The central character, Top Cat (called T.C. by close friends, "pro-vi-ding it's with dignity" according to the lyrics of the theme song) is the leader of a gang of Manhattan alley cats living in Hoagy's Alley: Fancy-Fancy, Spook, Benny the Ball, Brain, and Choo Choo.1 Top Cat and his gang were inspired by the East Side Kids, characters from a series of popular 1940s 'B' movies, but their more immediate roots lay in The Phil Silvers Show, a late-1950s military comedy whose lead character (Sergeant Bilko, played by Silvers) was a crafty con-man. Maurice Gosfield, who played Private Duane Doberman in The Phil Silvers Show, provided the voice for Benny the Ball in Top Cat, and Benny's rotund appearance was based on Gosfield's. Additionally, Arnold Stang's vocal characterisation of the lead character, the eponymous Top Cat, was based on an impression of Phil Silvers' voice. Other influences include the movie Guys and Dolls, in which actor Stubby Kaye played a short, stout, streetwise gambler: a virtual Benny the Ball prototype. Lastly, an unlikely contender (as it also came from Hanna Barbera) was the character Hokey Wolf on The Huckleberry Hound Show, whose segment also paralleled The Phil Silvers Show. A frequent plot-thread revolved around the local beat cop, Charles "Charlie" Dibble, and his ineffective attempts to evict the gang from the alley, due to their constantly attempting to earn a quick buck (usually by an illegal scam). Dibble's appearance was modeled on his voice actor, Allen Jenkins. The word dibble had previously meant only an implement for drilling holes in which to plant seeds, but now acquired a second meaning in the vernacular as slang for police officers. Analysis Animation historian Christopher P. Lehman says that the series can be seen as social commentary. The cats may represent disenfranchised people confined to living in a poor environment. Top Cat's get-rich-quick schemes are efforts to escape to a better life. The gang faces a human police officer who frustrates their efforts and keeps them trapped in the alley. This enforcement of the social order by police ensures that the cats will not escape their current living conditions. Episodes # "Hawaii, Here We Come" - September 27, 1961 # "The Maharajah of Pookajee" - October 4, 1961 # "All That Jazz" - October 11, 1961 # "The $1,000,000 Derby" - October 18, 1961 # "The Violin Player" - October 25, 1961 # "The Missing Heir" - November 1, 1961 # "Top Cat Falls in Love" - November 8, 1961 # "A Visit from Mother" - November 15, 1961 # "Naked Town" - November 22, 1961 # "Sergeant Top Cat" - November 29, 1961 # "Choo-Choo's Romance" - December 6, 1961 # "The Unscratchables" - December 13, 1961 # "Rafeefleas" - December 20, 1961 # "The Tycoon" - December 27, 1961 # "The Long Hot Winter" - January 3, 1962 # "The Case of the Absent Anteater" - January 10, 1962 # "T.C. Minds the Baby" - January 17, 1962 # "Farewell, Mr. Dibble" - January 24, 1962 # "The Grand Tour" - January 31, 1962 # "The Golden Fleecing" - February 7, 1962 # "Space Monkey" - February 14, 1962 # "The Late T.C." - February 21, 1962 # "Dibble's Birthday" - February 28, 1962 # "Choo-Choo Goes Ga-Ga" - March 7, 1962 # "King for a Day" - March 14, 1962 # "The Con Men" - March 21, 1962 # "Dibble Breaks the Record" - March 28, 1962 # "Dibble Sings Again" - April 4, 1962 # "Griswald" - April 11, 1962 # "Dibble's Double" - April 18, 1962 Voice Cast Main voices * Arnold Stang as Top Cat * Maurice Gosfield as Benny * Allen Jenkins as Officer Dibble * Marvin Kaplan as Choo-Choo * Leo DeLyon as Brain / Spook * John Stephenson as Fancy-Fancy Additional voices * Bea Benaderet * Herschel Bernardi * Daws Butler * Paul Frees * Sally Jones * Don Messick * Ge Ge Pearson * Gigi Perreau * Jean Vander Pyl Home media releases Various episodes of the series were released on VHS in Region 2, as well as Worldvision Home Video in Region 1. Warner Home Video released the complete series on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time on December 7, 2004. This release has been discontinued and is out of print. On January 10, 2017, Warner Archive re-released Top Cat: The Complete Series on DVD in region 1 as part of their Hanna–Barbera Classics Collection. This is a Manufacture-on-Demand (MOD) release, available exclusively through Warner's online store and Amazon.com. In the UK, the complete series box set was released in 2007, initially as a HMV exclusive until 2008. Alternatively, five single DVD volumes, each containing 6 episodes, were released. The covers were originally from the US edition but later re-released with a new design. Each volume shows a group picture of Top Cat using Dibble's phone with his gang beside him, but the colour-coding is: * Volume 1: Primrose (Episodes 1–6) – Top Cat * Volume 2: Green (Episodes 7–12) – Choo-Choo * Volume 3: Red (Episodes 13–18) – Fancy Fancy * Volume 4: Blue (Episodes 19–24) – Benny * Volume 5: Orange (Episodes 25–30) – Spook The DVDs have since been made available to buy in other retailers across the UK. Feature films Films Top Cat and the Beverly Hills Cats This 1988 TV-movie is a remake of the original show's episode "The Missing Heir". The movie was produced by Hanna-Barbera and released on January 9, 1988. Top Cat: The Movie (2011) A feature film based on the TV series was released on September 16, 2011 in 2D and 3D theaters. The film was produced by Mexico's Ánima Estudios and Argentina's Illusion Studios and was released by the Latin American branch of Warner Bros. (whose parent company, Time Warner owns Turner Entertainment, which acquired Hanna-Barbera in 1990). Entitled Don Gato y su Pandilla (the name used for the Spanish dub of the series),11 the film was a major box-office success in Mexico and was one of the most successful releases from a Mexican production. The film later had a limited theatrical release in the United States on August 2, 2013, featuring the voices of Rob Schneider as Lou Strickland and Danny Trejo as Griswald. Top Cat Begins (2015) A CGI animated prequel to the series, Top Cat Begins was made by the same Mexican studio as the 2011 movie. It tells the story of how T.C. met Benny and how the gang came together. It was released in Mexico in October 2015, and later released in the UK in May 2016. Top Cat (2017) An American adapted computer-animated film, produced by NicThic Productions, was announced in October 2015, with production beginning in November. The film will be directed by D.A. Nichols and Abbey Thickson, written by James Sharp, and produced by Jordan Kerner. The film began production with Nichols and Thickson announcing that they wanted to create an American adapted Top Cat ''film that would "transcend generations". Jason Harris Katz, Chris Edgerly, Matt Piazzi, Ben Diskin, and Bill Lobley will reprise their roles from the previous two films and Nolan North and Jess Harnell will voice Choo-Choo and Brain respectively. The film was released on December 22, 2017. Specials '''A Top Cat Christmas (2017)' In addition to the upcoming 2017 American film, a television special was announced to concide with the film's release, titled A Top Cat Christmas. The special was directed by Life in Pieces ''creator Justin Adler, and aired ABC on December 23, 2017. Reboot [[The New Adventures of Top Cat|'The New Adventures of Top Cat''']] A reboot/revival of the series premiered on Cartoon Network on March 2, 2017, with Harris, Edgerly, North, Harnell, Piazzi, and Diskin reprising their roles.Category:Television series Category:NicThic Wiki